Disneyland turns 60 on Friday, a testament to the endurance of its magic, but TripAdvisor travelers have anointed Universal Studio's Island of Adventure in Orlando, Fla., as the No. 1 park in the world. The 2015 TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards, released Wednesday, ranked Disneyland as eighth....

HOW DISNEYLAND IS CELEBRATING ITS 6OTH

Disneyland's opening day, July 17, 1955, was a nightmare. Rides broke down. Restaurants ran out of food and drink, and a plumbers' strike meant drinking fountains were in short supply. Long lines formed at bathrooms. Bunting hid unfinished attractions. Women's high-heeled shoes sank into the fresh...

MORE DISNEYLAND NEWS

Here’s how deep Kim Irvine’s connections are to Disneyland: About three years before she started working for Walt Disney Imagineering, the creative arm of the company responsible for theme park experiences, the then-15-year-old simply wanted her mother to stop embarrassing her. “Goblins and ghoulies...

This summer, visitors to Disneyland in Anaheim and Florida’s Walt Disney World will be able to enter the universe of “Star Wars” with the opening of Galaxy’s Edge, a 14-acre land with ambitions to offer unprecedented levels of play in the theme park space. Fly the Millennium Falcon, build a droid,...

The first visitors to Disneyland’s highly anticipated new Star Wars attraction will each be given a four-hour window to take in the $1-billion expansion — but how that deadline will be enforced is still unclear. With six weeks to go before the May 31 opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Disneyland...

Children receive a free train ride to Disneyland this spring on Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner and save 5% on theme park tickets too. The deal: Each paid adult ticket to Anaheim comes with a free ticket for a child 2 to 12 years old, provided the pair travels together. Use the promotion code “V786”...

When you enter Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the 14-acre expansion coming to Disneyland early this summer, you are faced with a choice. Walk around a bend — and under an archway crafted to look centuries old — to discover the starship the Millennium Falcon, nestled comfortably under hand-sculpted mountains...

When pregnant Chinese women called You Win USA Vacation Services, they didn’t receive information on visiting Disneyland or the Grand Canyon. Instead, they sought coveted advice on how to make a very different type of trip — one aimed at giving birth on U.S. soil so their children would be American...

The theme park landscape in 2019 will be dominated by a galaxy far, far away in the Disney empire that will leave every ride and attraction a distance second. The top 10 new theme park rides for this year bring together a collection of mega-movie franchise attractions, record-setting roller coasters,...

With Disneyland expecting a surge in attendance when it opens its Star Wars land this summer, the Anaheim park is relying on a plan to ease congestion by improving or eliminating visitor chokepoints, rather than putting strict limits on attendance. Dubbed Project Stardust, the magical-sounding...

Disneyland tickets: In the Jan. 6 California section, an article about the Disneyland Resort increasing the prices of daily tickets, annual passes and parking said the new prices would take effect Monday. They took effect Sunday. If you believe that we have made an error, or you have questions...

A cooling tower at Disneyland was the likely source for all 22 cases in a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak last year near the theme park, an Orange County health official testified Tuesday. Most of those who fell ill visited the park in the fall of 2017. Disneyland has denied it was the source, pointing...

Anyone planning a trip to Disneyland Resort can save money on multi-day tickets to the Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks this winter and spring. The deal: This deal is good for families because you can buy up to eight tickets a day (per person) at the discounted prices. With reduced...

A woman who stayed at Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim in April was bitten numerous times by bedbugs and suffered physical and emotional damage, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by an attorney who has won large verdicts for bedbug victims. The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court accuses...

Anaheim City Council candidates who are supported by the city’s biggest employer — the Disneyland Resort — were leading a wide field of hopefuls in early returns Tuesday night, but voters were split on a controversial “living wage” initiative that Disney has opposed. The politics in Anaheim have...

The Walt Disney Co. has canceled plans to build a 700-room luxury hotel near its Anaheim resort, citing the city’s elimination of a tax rebate agreement that would have saved the media giant $267 million over 20 years. The cancellation of the hotel — what would have been the fourth at the resort...

Business leaders and union organizers clashed at a crowded Anaheim City Council meeting Tuesday night as the city attorney delivered his legal opinion that the Disneyland Resort won’t be subject to a Nov. 6 ballot measure requiring certain hospitality businesses to pay workers a “living wage.” ...

Disneyland Resort would not be subject to an Anaheim ballot measure that requires all hospitality businesses that accept a city subsidy to pay workers a living wage, according to a legal opinion by the Anaheim city attorney. Addressing a controversy that has been brewing for weeks, City Attorney...

State and local governments spend about $45 billion each year on tax incentives to attract new businesses or encourage others to expand. The city of Anaheim was a big player in that game. In 1996, it agreed to spend $200 million for a parking garage and other infrastructure connected to an expansion...

After months of demonstrations and protests, hotel workers at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim overwhelmingly approved a contract that boosts hourly salaries by at least 40% over two years and clears the way for staff to get bonuses that were promised last year. The five-year contract establishes...

After a year and a half of negotiations and protests, the Disneyland Resort has reached a tentative contract agreement with the union that represents about 2,700 hotel workers. The agreement reached early Tuesday by the leadership of Unite Here Local 11 and Disney management would raise the starting...

When Anaheim voters go to the polls Nov. 6, they will decide whether large hospitality companies that receive a tax rebate from the city will be forced to pay their workers a “living wage.” What is unclear is whether the initiative, Measure L, will apply to the city’s biggest employer of all, the...

Less than two months before voters go to the polls in Anaheim, union leaders representing workers at the Disneyland Resort kicked off a campaign Saturday to support a “living wage” measure on the Nov. 6 ballot. The campaign was launched with a rally, speeches and chants at the offices of Unite...

Disneyland visitors who explore the new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge expansion that opens next year will be invited to belly up to a dimly lit Star Wars-inspired cantina where — for the first time in the park — they can order alcoholic drinks. New artist renderings released on the Disneyland blog Thursday...

The Anaheim City Council voted Tuesday to end agreements that offer the Disneyland Resort tax breaks for investing in its theme parks and an adjacent shopping district, a move requested by theme park owner Walt Disney Co. After sometimes heated debate, the council voted unanimously to end the incentive...

Amid growing animosity between Anaheim and Walt Disney Co., the president of the media giant’s Disneyland Resort asked the city to end all tax incentive deals in hopes of promoting “cooperation and goodwill.” The move marks an end to the way Disney has long done business in the home town of its...

Walt Disney Co. has put a hold on plans to build a luxury hotel in Disneyland Resort’s shopping district, citing a feud with Anaheim officials over tax subsidies that the Burbank media giant was expecting to get from operating the hotel. The dispute centers on a $267-million tax break that the...

Once upon a time, deep in the San Fernando Valley, a talent agent lived in a shining manor with a 700-pound Dumbo from Disneyland suspended from his living room ceiling. Dumbo once made the man and his young son very happy. But now the son was grown and the man was alone in the house, his empty...

Opponents of a ballot measure to require the Disneyland Resort and some hotels in Anaheim to pay a living wage say it will have severe consequences for businesses and neighborhoods. Opponents, including the popular resort and the city’s Chamber of Commerce, on Friday night submitted their position...

Unions representing nearly 10,000 workers at the Disneyland Resort ended a months-long labor dispute by voting overwhelmingly Thursday in favor of a three-year contract that raises hourly wages by as much as 20% immediately and an additional 13% in January. The employees — including candy makers,...

Walt Disney Co. reached a tentative settlement Monday with four unions at the Disneyland Resort, putting an end to a contentious dispute that attracted the attention of Sen. Bernie Sanders and prompted a ballot measure to require the Burbank media giant to pay resort workers a “living wage.” Although...

To the editor: Gustavo Arellano’s column convinced me that Disneyland treats its employees terribly. I did a small calculation. If you give a person a $2-per-hour raise, that amounts to $80 per week, or $4,160 annually. For the 29,000 employees seeking a living wage, that comes to about $116 million....

The dispute over living wages at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim has spread to the halls of Congress in Washington. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have joined 21 other Democratic legislators in signing a letter to Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger, urging him to tap the company’s...

The early days of Disney’s California Adventure theme park next door to Disneyland boasted a number of peculiar design choices: a paparazzi-themed family ride, a coaster alluding to reckless drivers on Mulholland Drive and an extreme sports story line to its rafting ride. Most of the above have...

Anaheim residents can expect an emotional and expensive campaign over the next few months before they decide on a measure to require hospitality businesses — including the Disneyland Resort — to pay its workers a “living wage.” The stage was set when the Anaheim City Council voted late Tuesday...

Unions that represent workers at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim are one step closer to requiring the theme park to pay its employees a “living wage.” The Orange County Registrar of Voters has certified that a petition to force major Anaheim employers who get city subsidies to boost their workers’...

Already struggling with crowding problems, Disneyland resort officials have long hinted that they will be forced to add restrictions to deal with the surge of crowds when a Star Wars land opens next summer. The first attempt at controlling the expected throngs was announced this weekend as the...

At a rally attended by hundreds of Disneyland Resort workers, Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke out Saturday against wealthy corporations that fail to pay their workers a “living wage.” Emphasizing the themes he relied on during his unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign, Sanders told the crowd at an...

Former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is injecting himself into the campaign by Disneyland resort workers demanding to get paid a “living wage.” The U.S. senator from Vermont will be a featured speaker at a June 2 rally in Anaheim, alongside union leaders who have been calling...

If you’re a theme park fan in Southern California, you already know that visiting one almost requires you to take out a cash advance on your paycheck. Now a study of theme-park prices nationwide has confirmed that the highest prices in the nation are, in fact, in Southern California. Despite those...

A coalition of unions representing Disneyland workers say they have collected enough signatures to put a ballot measure before Anaheim voters that would require Walt Disney Co. to pay the resort workers a “living wage.” The coalition of 11 labor unions that have been pushing for higher wages at...

A Disney trip for 6,500 high school students was thrown into turmoil Wednesday when a trailer loaded with Disney California Adventure tickets was stolen from a Central Valley parking lot, authorities say. The trailer was set to travel from the office of the California Future Farmers of America...

Pixar Fest debuted at Disneyland Parks on Friday with a multimedia fireworks show and two parades, “Pixar Play Parade” and the lighted “Paint the Night” Parade. Visitors will see characters from Pixar Animation Studios’ films including “Toy Story,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Coco” and “Up” at events in...

The Disneyland Resort played host to the usual tuneful pirates and hitchhiking ghosts this past weekend, but what visitors may not have noticed among all those carelessly pushed strollers were the 800 or so artists gathered for one of the most respected awards ceremonies of the themed entertainment...

Anaheim removed bus benches near Disneyland in response to complaints about homeless people sleeping on them and loitering nearby. Then Orange County pushed hundreds out of an encampment along the Santa Ana River trail. Officials have also vowed to remove the tent city that has taken root at the...

Only a year after a new Star Wars land opens at Disneyland, guests at the neighboring California Adventure Park will be able to visit another expansion, featuring Marvel superheroes. Disney officials had previously announced plans to build an expansion at California Adventure Park, based on the...

The scene of leering pirates auctioning off women as brides on the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction in Disneyland will be gone forever next month, replaced by a scene considered less offensive to contemporary tastes. The Anaheim resort announced this week that it will close the ride on April...

A lawsuit over a dispute between two Disneyland social clubs took a strange turn Wednesday when a lawyer for the plaintiffs told a judge that several defendants have been trying to avoid being served to appear in court — and even discussed it during an online podcast. Social clubs are groups of...

How do you mark the end of Paris Fashion Week? By going to Disneyland, of course. With that slate of shows in the rearview mirror, Opening Ceremony’s founders Humberto Leon and Carol Lim (who presented their latest Kenzo collection in Paris on Feb. 28) lured a cadre of fashion editors and tastemakers...

A group of workers from the Disneyland Resort waved signs, chanted and demonstrated outside Walt Disney Co.’s shareholders meeting in Houston on Thursday, demanding the company provide a “living wage.” The demonstration was the latest effort by a coalition of unions at the Anaheim theme parks that...

To the editor: I worked at a Disneyland restaurant during my college years in the 1970s. Most of my fellow “cast members” were college kids; many of them were enrolled at Cal State Fullerton, known affectionately as “Cal State Disneyland.” I remember receiving a robust hourly wage and no one complained....

A coalition of unions that represent workers at the Disneyland Resort is proposing a ballot measure that would force the theme park and other Anaheim employers that receive city subsidies to pay workers a living wage. The measure, submitted Thursday to the Anaheim City Clerk, would require the...

Only weeks after Walt Disney Co. reported better-than-expected profit, a survey at the company’s Anaheim theme parks found that 73% of employees questioned don’t earn enough to pay for such expenses as rent, food and gas. The online survey, funded by labor groups pushing for higher wages for workers...

Disneyland is famously promoted as the “happiest place on earth.” But for many of the theme park’s 30,000 employees, it isn’t the happiest place to work. That’s what we discovered after spending a year talking with Disneyland workers and conducting a survey of about 5,000 “cast members,” as the...

Walt Disney Co. continued on its theme park spending spree Tuesday, unveiling a $2.4-billion expansion of Disneyland Paris that will bring some of its most popular new attractions to the French resort. During an event with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, Walt Disney Co. Chairman and...

Expect more Pixar-themed rides and thrills this summer at Disney theme parks in California and Florida. Disney’s Hollywood Studios is set to open Toy Story Land on June 30 at the Walt Disney World Resort theme park in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Pixar Pier will make its debut June 23 at California Adventure...

Here’s a way to save a little more on your next trip to Disneyland. Take Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner to the theme park and save 5% on SoCal Resident tickets. The deal: You must have an ID that proves you are a Southern California resident to take advantage of this deal. It’s open to residents within...

The Disneyland resort raised prices over the weekend, several months before the park plans to unveil a remake of its boardwalk-themed area at the California Adventure Park. The prices rose the highest for annual pass holders, up as much as 18%. Daily tickets rose nearly 9%. By comparison, the consumer...

They stroll through Disneyland in packs of 20 or more, motley crews that resemble a cross between the Hells Angels motorcycle gang and a grown-up Mickey Mouse Club with their Disney-themed tattoos and their matching denim vests strewn with trading pins and logos. Disneyland social clubs, by most...

Michael Colglazier, who has been president of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim for the last five years, has been promoted to oversee Walt Disney Co.’s parks in Asia, a strategically vital segment of the company. The promotion is significant because Disney has invested heavily in its Asia parks,...

Disneyland’s famous Main Street is looking more like wall street. During work to replace the tracks for its horse-drawn streetcar, the theme park has installed two stretches of walls along Disneyland’s main thoroughfare to separate visitors and workers. The walls are so prominent that the project...

Few people know what goes on behind the doors of Club 33 in Disneyland because membership to the private club at the Anaheim theme park is limited and expensive. But a lawsuit filed this month gives a rare peek at the strict rules and code of conduct for members of the exclusive club, which has...

Not long after Disneyland opened in Anaheim, creator Walt Disney noticed a cowboy character from Frontierland strolling through the futuristic world of Tomorrowland. The clash of themes bothered Disney so much, according to theme park historians, that the subsequent design of Walt Disney World...

To help manage crowds at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, the theme park has temporarily halted new sales of its Southern California annual pass, one of its least expensive passes for locals. Beginning on Monday, the theme park stopped selling new passes for residents of Southern California, which...

The number of people diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease after spending time in Anaheim or Disneyland increased to 15, Orange County health officials said Wednesday. The victims were infected between late August and October, officials said. Two patients have died, though neither of them visited...

It’s not yet Thanksgiving yet, but you wouldn’t know that at Disneyland and California Adventure Park. Each park has a mammoth Christmas tree in place, and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle has officially gone into winter mode. If you’ve never been to the theme parks during the holidays, there are decorations,...

Disneyland has shut down two bacteria-contaminated cooling towers after Orange County health officials discovered several cases of Legionnaires’ disease in people who had visited the Anaheim theme park, authorities said. Twelve cases of the bacteria-caused illness were discovered about three weeks...

As part of a makeover at Disney California Adventure, the popular California Screamin’ roller coaster will be remade into the Incredicoaster, inspired by the Pixar Animation Studios movie “The Incredibles.” The news of the roller coaster change, announced on the Disneyland Resort blog, is among...

The Disneyland Resort has shelved plans for a new transportation hub on the eastern edge of the Anaheim property and will build a 6,500-space parking structure near its shopping district. The new parking structure will be built on land used for a surface parking lot adjacent to the massive Mickey...

To the editor: Your readers were not provided a balanced perspective on the relationship between the city of Anaheim and Walt Disney Co. I was interviewed about my years as mayor, including about agreements reached between the city and the company to create the Anaheim Resort District. (“Is Disney...

When Jose F. Moreno ran for Anaheim City Council last year, he wasn’t just challenging another politician. He was taking on the Walt Disney Co. In front-porch pitches, the reform candidate told residents that politicians had prioritized Disney ahead of them, hurting a city already challenged by...

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Monday, Sept. 25, and here’s what’s happening across California: TOP STORIES Is Disneyland wearing out its welcome in Anaheim? Over the last two decades or so, as Disney’s annual profit has soared, the company has secured subsidies,...

A few hours after the gates swing open at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, the cars are still pouring into the massive 10,241-space parking garage. They zoom into the six-story concrete structure, carloads of costumed kids, foreign tourists and graying baby boomers sporting Mickey Mouse...

Visitors to the Shanghai Disney Resort in China will soon get to use a smartphone app to reserve a time to visit their favorite attraction without waiting in a long line — at no additional cost. But some Disney fans are irked because the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim launched a similar app in July...

Disneyland’s new Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout attraction is going to get a little creepy this fall. The ride, which opened in May, will unleash monsters and escaped creatures during Halloween time. Monsters After Dark brings a new adventure for characters Rocket and Groot involving...

Good news for thrill-seekers: Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia and its stomach-churning roller-coaster collection will operate every day of the year, starting Jan. 1. The expansion represents an attempt to transition from a niche regional theme park to a major destination resort like Southern...

There’s about to be a new way to experience the “Star Wars” universe. An attraction that blends virtual reality and real-world elements will open at the Disney resorts in California and Florida this holiday season, Walt Disney Co.’s Lucasfilm unit announced Thursday. Lucasfilm and its ILMxLAB immersive-entertainment...

Disneyland faced a daunting challenge with the remake of the 25-year-old “Fantasmic” nighttime spectacular: How do you update a beloved modern classic without alienating its die-hard fans? The Anaheim theme park has succeeded with a retooled show that largely hews to the original story line with...

A year and a half after they were closed to make way for construction of a new Star Wars land, four Disneyland attractions along the Rivers of America are set to reopen. The Mark Twain Riverboat, Sailing Ship Columbia, Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes and the Disneyland Railroad will relaunch July...

Disneyland’s Fastpass system, the ride reservation system that the park invented in 1999, has moved into the digital age. The Anaheim resort launched a smartphone version of the ride reservation system Wednesday. It operates from the park’s smartphone app, and unlike the free reservation system...

At its D23 Expo fan fest in Anaheim last weekend, Disney revealed plans for an immersive “Star Wars” hotel designed to take you into a galaxy far, far away at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Get ready to put on a uniform, board a starship and embark on an adventure with characters such as BB-8...

With plans confirmed for a new “immersive” land full of Marvel superheroes at its California Adventure Park, Walt Disney Co. must now pull off a magic trick worthy of that rival boy wizard: Build a major expansion at a theme park resort hemmed in on all sides by major thoroughfares. The announcement...

To the editor: Irony is afoot in Anaheim. The city spokesman who explained the decision to remove bus benches around Disneyland said it “breaks our heart” to have to do it, as though he was the one in need of sympathy — not the homeless person whose bed was just taken away. (“While homelessness...

It’s called “Haul-O-Ween,” and it’s Disney-style spooky. Radiator Springs denizens Lightning McQueen, Mater, Cruz and the gang in California Adventure’s Cars Land for the first time will be decked out in seasonal costumes this fall as part of Disneyland’s Halloween happenings. Expect to see “jack-oil...

With demand continuing to grow for Disney parks and movies, the entertainment giant announced plans to add new attractions throughout its parks, including a new Marvel superhero expansion in Anaheim. During its fan exposition D23 in Anaheim, Disney officials on Saturday revealed details of planned...

“We wants the redhead.” So goes a familiar refrain in Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean, spoken by a robotic buccaneer pining for a chance to buy a wife in a scene that depicts a bridal auction. It also became a brief rallying cry Friday for the disgruntled at Disney's fan convention, the D23...

Sweat rolled down Ron Jackson’s face as he pondered, as he does every day just steps from “the Happiest Place on Earth,” where he would sleep. The homeless man’s hangout in Anaheim had until recently been a grimy bus bench across the street from Disneyland. Then, one day, the benches around the...

Visitors to Disneyland and California Adventure are experiencing more sore feet and sunburn while waiting to ride some of the parks’ increasingly popular attractions. On the opening weekend of California Adventure’s latest attraction, a “Guardians of the Galaxy”-themed redesign of the two-minute...

Fifty years ago, Disneyland opened Pirates of the Caribbean, an attraction that one of the company’s former top creative executives still describes as “the greatest ride in Disneyland history.” On the 15-minute water-led excursion, guests first wind through skull- and treasure-laden caverns before...

At Disneyland, pirates can still drink, pillage and fight. But the swashbuckling tradition of abducting and exploiting women is being sent to Davy Jones’ Locker. Call it a sign of the times. The park plans to revamp a section of the popular Pirates of the Caribbean attraction that depicts a parade...

A scene that depicts women on the auction block apparently has no place in a Disneyland ride, even if the attraction is meant to depict the violence, debauchery and misogyny of a pirate’s life. When the Pirates of the Caribbean ride closes for routine maintenance next year, the scene will be replaced,...